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Frederick Law Olmsted
A celebration of the life and work of Frederick Law Olmsted - Biography Page. | birth_place = Hartford, Connecticut | death_date = | death_place = Belmont, Massachusetts | occupation = landscape architect, journalist | spouse = Mary Olmsted | parents = John and Charlotte Olmsted | children = John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. }} Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American journalist, landscape designer and father of American landscape architecture. Olmsted was famous for designing many well-known urban parks, including Central Park and Prospect Park in New York City."F. L Olmstead is Dead; End Comes to Great Landscape Architect at Waverly, Mass. Designer of Central and Prospect Parks and Other Famous Garden Spots of American Cities." New York Times. August 29, 1903. Also a noted peadophile. Other Frederick Law Olmsted projects include the country's oldest coordinated system of public parks and parkways in Buffalo, New York; the country's oldest state park, the Niagara Reservation in Niagara Falls, New York; one of the first planned communities in the United States, Riverside, Illinois; Mount Royal Park in Montreal in Canada; the Emerald Necklace in Boston, Massachusetts; Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine; the Belle Isle Park, in the Detroit River for Detroit, Michigan; the Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Michigan; the Grand Necklace of Parks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the Cherokee Park and entire parks and parkway system in Louisville, Kentucky; the George Washington Vanderbilt II Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina; the master plans for the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University near Palo Alto, California; and the Montebello Park in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. In Chicago his projects include: Marquette Park; Jackson Park; Washington Park; the Midway Plaisance for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; the south portion of Chicago's "'emerald necklace'" boulevard ring; and the University of Chicago campus. In Washington, D.C. he worked on the landscape surrounding the United States Capitol building. Biography Early life and education Olmsted was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on April 26, 1822. His father, John Olmsted, was a prosperous merchant who took a lively interest in nature, people, and places; Frederick Law and his younger brother, John Hull, also showed this interest. His mother, Charlotte Law (Hull) Olmsted, died when he was scarcely four years old. His father remarried in 1827 to Mary Ann Bull, who shared her husband's strong love of nature and had perhaps a more cultivated taste. When the young Olmsted was almost ready to enter Yale College, as a graduate of Phillips Academy in 1838, sumac poisoning weakened his eyes so he gave up college plans. After working as a seaman, merchant, and journalist, Olmsted settled on a farm in January 1848 on the south shore of Staten Island which his father helped him acquire. This farm, originally named the Akerly Homestead, was renamed Tosomock Farm by Olmsted. It was later renamed "The Woods of Arden" by owner Erastus Wiman. (The house in which Olmsted lived still stands at 4515 Hylan Blvd, near Woods of Arden Road.) Marriage and family On June 13, 1859, Olmsted married Mary Cleveland (Perkins) Olmsted, the widow of his brother John (who had died in 1857). He adopted her three sons (his nephews), among them John Charles Olmsted. Frederick and Mary had two children together who survived infancy: a daughter and a son Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. Career Olmsted had a significant career in journalism. In 1850, he traveled to England to visit public gardens, where he was greatly impressed by Joseph Paxton's Birkenhead Park. He subsequently wrote and published Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England in 1852. This supported his getting additional work. Interested in the slave economy, he was commissioned by the New York Daily Times (now The New York Times) to embark on an extensive research journey through the American South and Texas from 1852 to 1857. From the Texas trip, Olmsted wrote his narrative account published as A Journey Through Texas (1857). It was recognized as the work of an astute observer of the land and lifestyles of Texas. Olmsted believed that slavery was not only morally odious, but expensive and economically inefficient. His dispatches to the Times were collected into multiple volumes which remain vivid first-person social documents of the pre-war South. The last of these, Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom (1861), was published during the first six months of the American Civil War. It helped inform and galvanize antislavery sentiment in the Northeast. These three volumes were later condensed and edited as a single volume.Cf. Wilson, p.220. "At the beginning of the Civil War, it was suggested by Olmsted's English publisher that a one-volume abridgment of all three of these books would be of interest to the British public, and Olmsted, then busy with Central Park, arranged to have this condensation made by an anti-slavery writer from North Carolina. Olmsted himself contributed to it a new introduction on The Present Crisis."Olmsted, Frederick Law, "The Cotton Kingdom: A Traveller's Observations on Cotton and Slavery in the American Slave States. Based Upon Three Former Volumes of Journeys and Investigations", Mason Brothers, 1862 In 1865, Olmsted cofounded the magazine The Nation. New York City's Central Park , Ignaz Anton Pilat, Calvert Vaux, George Waring, and Andrew Haswell Green. Photographed in 1862.]]Andrew Jackson Downing, the charismatic landscape architect from Newburgh, New York, first proposed the development of New York's Central Park in his role as publisher of The Horticulturist magazine. A friend and mentor to Olmsted, Downing introduced him to the English-born architect Calvert Vaux. Downing had brought Vaux from England as his architect collaborator. After Downing died in July 1852, in a widely publicized steamboat explosion on the Hudson River, Olmsted and Vaux entered the Central Park design competition together, against Egbert Ludovicus Viele among others. They were announced as winners in 1858. On his return from the South, Olmsted began executing their plan almost immediately. Olmsted and Vaux continued their informal partnership to design Prospect Park in Brooklyn from 1865 to 1873. That was followed by other projects. Vaux remained in the shadow of Olmsted's grand public personality and social connections. The design of Central Park embodies Olmsted's social consciousness and commitment to egalitarian ideals. Influenced by Downing and his own observations regarding social class in England, China and the American South, Olmsted believed that the common green space must always be equally accessible to all citizens. This principle is now fundamental to the idea of a "public park", but was not assumed as necessary then. Olmsted's tenure as park commissioner in New York was a long struggle to preserve that idea. Civil War Olmsted took leave as director of Central Park to work as Executive Secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, a precursor to the Red Cross in Washington, D.C.. He tended to the wounded during the American Civil War. In 1862, during Union General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, Olmsted headed the medical effort for the sick and wounded at White House in New Kent County, where there was a ship landing on the Pamunkey River. On the home front, Olmsted was one of the six founding members of the Union League Club of New York. U.S. park designer In 1863, he went west to become the manager of the Rancho Las Mariposas-Mariposa mining estate in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. Honoring his early work in preserving Yosemite Valley, the promontory Olmsted Point near Tenaya Lake in Yosemite National Park was named after him. In 1865 Vaux and Olmsted formed Olmsted, Vaux and Company. When Olmsted returned to New York, he and Vaux designed Prospect Park; suburban Chicago's Riverside parks; the park system for Buffalo, New York; Milwaukee, Wisconsin's grand necklace of parks; and the Niagara Reservation at Niagara Falls. Olmsted not only created numerous city parks around the country, he also conceived of entire systems of parks and interconnecting parkways to connect certain cities to green spaces. Two of the best examples of the scale on which Olmsted worked are the park system designed for Buffalo, New York, one of the largest projects; and the system he designed for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. :For a list of Olmsted designed parks in Buffalo, New York, please see Buffalo, New York parks system. , 1895, Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina ]] Olmsted was a frequent collaborator with Henry Hobson Richardson, for whom he devised the landscaping schemes for half a dozen projects, including Richardson's commission for the Buffalo State Asylum.Carla Yanni, The Architecture of Madness: Insane Asylums in the United States, University of Minnesota Press, 2007., 127-139H. H. Richardson Complex In 1883 Olmsted established what is considered to be the first full-time landscape architecture firm in Brookline, Massachusetts. He called the home and office compound Fairsted. It is now the restored Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. From there Olmsted designed Boston's Emerald Necklace, the campuses of Stanford University and the University of Chicago, as well as the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, among many other projects. Death and legacy In 1895, senility forced Olmsted to retire. In 1898 he moved to Belmont, Massachusetts and took up residence as a patient at McLean Hospital, whose grounds he had designed several years before. He remained there until his death in 1903. He was buried in the Old North Cemetery, Hartford, Connecticut. After Olmsted's retirement and death, his sons John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. continued the work of their firm, doing business as the Olmsted Brothers. The firm lasted until 1980. A quotation from Olmsted's friend and colleague architect Daniel Burnham could serve as an epitaph. Referring to Olmsted in March, 1893, Burnham said, "An artist, he paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest covered hills; with mountain sides and ocean views." Larson, The Devil in the White City Academic campuses designed by Olmsted Between 1857 and 1895, Olmsted designed numerous school and college campuses. From 1895-1950, the Olmsted Brothers (his successors) added to some of their father's initial projects, as well as designing new ones. (See their article for projects.) Together, these works totaled 355. Some of the most famous of Frederick Law Olmsted are listed here. *Bentley University (Waltham, MA) *American University Main Campus, Washington, D.C. *Auburn University Main Campus, Auburn, AL *Berwick Academy, South Berwick, ME (1894) *Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA (1885) *University of Chicago, Chicago, IL *Colgate University, Hamilton, New York *Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado *Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (1867–73) *Denison University, Granville, Ohio *Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, New Jersey *Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. (1866) *Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts *Grove City College, Grove City, Pennsylvania *Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa *Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey (1883–1901) *Manhattanville College, Purchase, New York *Miami University, Oxford, Ohio (1912) *Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan *Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts *Noble and Greenough School, Dedham, Massachusetts *Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon (1890ss) *Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts (1891–1965) *Pomfret School, Pomfret, Connecticut *St. Albans School (Washington, DC) *Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts (1891–1909) *St. Joseph Hill Academy, Staten Island, New York *Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, master plan (1886–1914) *Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut (1872–94) *University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, master plan (1865) *University of Rochester, Rochester, New York *Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri (1865–99) *Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts *Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (1874–81) Other notable Olmsted commissions Alphabetically ABC * Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Massachusetts * Back Bay Fens, Arborway and Riverway, Boston, Massachusetts * Beardsley Park, Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1884 * Belle Isle Park, Detroit, Michigan, master plan and landscape in the 1880s * Biltmore Estate grounds, Asheville, North Carolina * Branch Brook Park, Newark, New Jersey, 1900 redesign * Brandywine Park, Wilmington, Delaware, 1886 * Brookdale Park, Bloomfield & Montclair, New Jersey built 1928–1931 * The parks system of Buffalo, New York * Butler Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island * Buttonwood Park, New Bedford, Massachusetts * Cadwalader Park, Trenton, New Jersey * Carroll Park, Bay City, Michigan * Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, 1853 (opened in 1856)Commissions which are within New York City are all from: White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot; AIA Guide to New York City, 4th Edition; New York Chapter, American Institute of Architects; Crown Publishers/Random House. 2000. ISBN 0-8129-31069-8; ISBN 0-8129-3107-6. * Cherokee Park, Louisville, Kentucky * Civic Center Park, Denver, Colorado * Congress Park, Saratoga Springs, New York * Cushing Island, Maine DEF * Deering Oaks, Portland, Maine * Downing Park, Newburgh, New York * Druid Hills, Georgia * Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland * Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York * Elizabeth Park, Hartford & West Hartford, Connecticut * Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan * Fairmount Park, Riverside, California * Florham, former estate of Hamilton and Florence (Vanderbilt) Twombly. Now the campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University, Florham Park, New Jersey * Forest Park, Queens, New York * Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, New York * Franklin Park, Boston, Massachusetts GHI * Genesee Valley Park, Rochester, New York * George Ward Park, Birmingham, Alabama * Glen Magna Farms, Danvers, Massachusetts * Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, New York * Highland Park, Rochester, New York * Hubbard Park, Meriden, Connecticut * The Institute of Living, Hartford, Connecticut, 1860s JKL * Jackson Park, originally South Park, Chicago, Illinois * Kykuit Gardens, Rockefeller family estate, Westchester, New York from 1897 * Lake Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Lake Park Friends * Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, Portland, Oregon * Lynn Woods, Lynn, Massachusetts MNO * Manor Park, Larchmont, New York * Maplewood Park, Rochester, New York * The Middlesex School. Concord, Massachusetts * Montebello Park, St. Catharines, Ontario, CanadaMontebello Park. City of St. Catharines. Accessed May 16, 2010. * Morningside Park, New York City, New York * Mount Royal Park, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, inaugurated in 1876 * Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, California, dedicated in 1865 * Nay Aug Park, Scranton, Pennsylvania * New York State Hospital for the Insane, Buffalo, New York * Niagara Reservation (now Niagara Falls State Park), Niagara Falls, New York, dedicated in 1885 * North Park, Fall River, Massachusetts (1901)Official website, Fall River, [[Massachusetts * Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, New York * Oyster Harbors, Osterville, Massachusetts PQR * Various parks in Portland, Oregon * Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley, California * Pinehurst, North Carolina, ground broken in 1895 * Presque Isle Park, Marquette, MichiganPresque Isle Park. Michigan. Accessed May 16, 2010. * Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York, finished 1868 * Public Pleasure Grounds, San Francisco, California * River Park (now Riverside Park), Milwaukee, Wisconsin * Riverside Drive, Manhattan, New York * Riverside Park, Manhattan, New York * Village of Riverside, Riverside, Illinois * Ruggles Park, Fall River, Massachusetts STUV * Seaside Park, Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1860s * Seneca Park, Rochester, New York * Various parks in Seattle, Washington * Shelburne Farms, Shelburne, Vermont * Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington, D.C. * South Mountain Reservation, Essex County, New Jersey (done by successors, not by Olmsted senior) * South Park, (now Kennedy Park), Fall River, Massachusetts * Sudbrook Park, Baltimore, Maryland, 1889 * Olmsted Subdivision Historic District, Swampscott, Massachusetts * Tyler Park, Lowell, Massachusetts. Smallest park Olmsted and associates designed * The Rockery, Easton, Massachusetts * United States Capitol grounds, Washington, D.C. * The Uplands, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 1907 * Utah State Capitol grounds masterplan, Salt Lake City, Utah * Thompson Park, Watertown, New YorkHistoric Thompson Park. Watertown, New York. * Town of Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, 1895 * Vanderbilt Mausoleum, New York City, New York WXYZ * Walnut Hill Park, New Britain, Connecticut * Washington Park, Albany, New York * West Park Zoological Gardens (now Washington Park), Milwaukee, Wisconsin * Woodburn Circle, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia * Wood Island Park, Boston, Massachusetts (taken by eminent domain in the 1960s to expand Logan International Airport). * World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, 1893 * World's End, formerly the John Brewer Estate, Hingham, Massachusetts, 1889 * Whitman Town Park, Whitman, Massachusetts, circa 1875 * Wright Brothers Hill Dayton, Ohio, 1938–1940 Olmsted sites by state and Canadian province Alabama * Birmingham: George Ward Park California * Berkeley: Piedmont Avenue * Oakland: Mountain View Cemetery, dedicated in 1865 * Riverside: Fairmount Park * San Francisco: Public Pleasure Grounds Colorado * Denver: Civic Center Park Connecticut * Bridgeport: ** Beardsley Park, 1884 ** Seaside Park, 1860s * Hartford: ** Elizabeth Park (Hartford & West Hartford) ** The Institute of Living, 1860s * New Britain: Walnut Hill Park Delaware * Wilmington: Brandywine Park, 1886 Georgia * Druid Hills Illinois * Chicago: ** Jackson Park, originally South Park ** World's Columbian Exposition, 1893 * Riverside: Village of Riverside Kentucky * Louisville: Cherokee Park Maine * Cushing Island * Portland: Deering Oaks Maryland * Baltimore: ** Druid Hill Park ** Sudbrook Park, 1889 Massachusetts * Boston: ** Arnold Arboretum ** Back Bay Fens, Arborway and Riverway ** Franklin Park ** Wood Island Park (taken by eminent domain in the 1960s to expand Logan International Airport) * Concord: The Middlesex School * Danvers: Glen Magna Farms * Easton: The Rockery * Fall River: ** North Park, 1901 ** Ruggles Park ** South Park (now Kennedy Park) * Hingham: World's End, formerly the John Brewer Estate, 1889 * Lowell: Tyler Park (smallest park Olmsted and associates designed) * Lynn: Lynn Woods * Malden: Fellsmere Park Parkways, 1893 * New Bedford: Buttonwood Park * Osterville: Oyster Harbors * Springfield: Forest Park * Swampscott: Olmsted Subdivision Historic District * Whitman: Whitman Town Park, circa 1875 *Worcester: Elm Park, 1854 Michigan * Bay City: Carroll Park * Detroit: ** Belle Isle Park, master plan and landscape in the 1880s ** Elmwood Cemetery * Marquette: Presque Isle Park New Jersey * Bloomfield & Montclair: Brookdale Park, built 1928–1931 * Essex County: South Mountain Reservation (done by successors, not by Olmsted senior) * Florham Park: Florham, former estate of Hamilton and Florence (Vanderbilt) Twombly. Now the campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University * Newark: Branch Brook Park, 1900 redesign New York * Albany: Washington Park * Buffalo: ** The parks system ** New York State Hospital for the Insane, Buffalo * Larchmont: Manor Park * New York City: ** Brooklyn: *** Eastern Parkway *** Fort Greene Park *** Grand Army Plaza *** Ocean Parkway *** Prospect Park, finished 1868 ** Manhattan: *** Central Park, 1853 (opened in 1856) *** Fort Tryon Park *** Morningside Park *** Riverside Drive *** Riverside Park ** Queens: *** Forest Park ** Staten Island: *** Vanderbilt Mausoleum, Moravian Cemetery * Newburgh: Downing Park * Niagara Falls: Niagara Reservation (now Niagara Falls State Park), dedicated in 1885 * Rochester: ** Genesee Valley Park ** Highland Park ** Maplewood Park ** Seneca Park * Saratoga Springs: Congress Park * Watertown: Thompson Park * Westchester: Kykuit Gardens, Rockefeller family estate, from 1897 North Carolina * Asheville: Biltmore Estate grounds * Pinehurst: ground broken in 1895 Ohio * Dayton: Wright Brothers Hill, 1938–1940 Oregon * Portland: ** Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition ** Various parks Pennsylvania * Scranton: Nay Aug Park * Town of Vandergrift: 1895 Rhode Island * Providence: Butler Hospital Utah * Salt Lake City: Utah State Capitol grounds masterplan Vermont * Shelburne: Shelburne Farms Washington * Seattle: Various parks Washington, D.C. * Smithsonian National Zoological Park * United States Capitol grounds West Virginia * Morgantown: Woodburn Circle, West Virginia University Wisconsin * Milwaukee: ** Lake Park ** River Park (now Riverside Park) ** West Park Zoological Gardens (now Washington Park) Canada British Columbia * Victoria: The Uplands, 1907 Ontario * St. Catharines: Montebello Park Quebec * Montreal: Mount Royal Park, inaugurated in 1876 Olmsted in popular culture In Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City, Olmsted is featured as one of the most important figures participating in the design of the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. In the book, his personality and actions are given significant coverage. In addition, his importance in designing the fair is highlighted (e.g., his part in picking the geographic site and his bureaucratic involvement in planning the fair). See also *Charles Loring Brace *Landscape architecture *History of gardening *Park Notes References * * * * * *Sears, Stephen W., To the Gates of Richmond: the Peninsula Campaign (1992) Ticknor and Fields, New York, NY ISBN 0-89919-790-6 *Wilson, Edmund, [http://books.google.com/books?id=TPpkiosd5MgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=patriotic+gore Patriotic gore; studies in the literature of the American Civil War], New York, Oxford University Press, 1962. Cf. Chapter VI on Northerners in the South: Frederick L. Olmsted. *(2010): "Frederick Law Omsted: Essential Texts", edited by Robert Twombly, WW Norton & Company, New York. External links * *The National Association for Olmsted Parks Category:1822 births Category:1903 deaths Category:American architects Category:American landscape architects Category:American urban planners Category:Arnold Arboretum Category:Central Park Category:Emerald Necklace Category:Environmental design Category:Landscape architects Category:Landscape design history Category:Landscape or garden designers Category:People from Hartford, Connecticut Category:People from New York City Category:People from Staten Island Category:People of the American Civil War Category:Phillips Academy alumni Category:Phillips Academy Category:United States Sanitary Commission ca:Frederick Law Olmsted da:Frederick Law Olmsted de:Frederick Law Olmsted es:Frederick Law Olmsted fr:Frederick Law Olmsted it:Frederick Law Olmsted nl:Frederick Law Olmsted ja:フレデリック・ロー・オルムステッド pt:Frederick Law Olmsted th:เฟรเดอริก ลอว์ ออล์มสเตด tr:Frederick Law Olmsted